Surveys on archaeological sites can be loosely divided into these types:

The end product of each of these types of survey is the same, the site is recorded to known level of detail and known precision.

An assessment survey is one that aims to get a rough idea of the extents and layout of a site, it's like a sketch with measurements. These surveys are used to provide information for rapid assessments of sites, by necessity they must be done quickly. The aim is to get enough information about the site as quickly as is possible. These surveys are sometimes done in advance of a pre-disturbance survey to provide information for planning survey work and control point positions.

The most typical type of survey is a recording survey, these include pre-disturbance and excavation surveys. This type of survey requires careful planning, recording and processing so takes time to do correctly. The first step for a recording survey is to set up a set of control points around and inside the site, these points are used as the framework for the survey. Once the control points are in place they can be used to position artefacts or structure or for helping to record details of the seabed.

The positions of larger features can be recorded by measuring their positions relative to a number of control points. If more than one point on the feature is positioned then the orientation of the feature can also be determined. Over short distances where the highest accuracy is not required offsets and ties can be used, over longer distances or where the high accuracy or position quality is important then DSM or acoustic positioning is used.

Where a feature consists of a number of artefacts in a small area then positioning each separately becomes more difficult and can become less accurate. To record a small area to a high resolution then drawing frames or photography are used

Recording the remains of ship's hulls or buildings can be difficult. The remains may be too large to record using drawing frames but too detailed to record by positioning only a few points. Offsets can be useful in recording simple shapes but complex shapes can sometimes only be captured accurately using close-range photogrammetry. Recording the remains of harbours and civil engineering works can be difficult because of the size of the task, techniques used for recording topography are sometimes the most useful.

Monitoring surveys are a special kind of recording survey where only selected parts of a site are recorded, these surveys are done to monitor changes in the site over time. Not all the site need be re-surveyed each time, only small parts thought most likely to indicate change. A typical example would be to monitor the position, attitude and remains of a stern post on an exposed site or the depth of burial of a site under mud.

A topographic survey aims to record the shape of the seabed and usually involves recording the seabed type. The same principles are used for recording topography as for other types of survey, what makes this type different is the need to record over a wide area. Recording the shape of the seabed usually involves recording the depth or height of the seabed at known positions. If the measurements are made at regular intervals over the site then a plan can be produced showing the depths as contours.